Improving Dietary Quality and Social Engagement Through a Virtual Nutrition and Teaching Kitchen Intervention Among Older Veterans With Impaired Mobility
VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
Compared to non-Veterans, Veterans demonstrate an increased risk for obesity and multimorbidity. Thus, interventions to improve overall health are warranted in this population. Healthy diets that include fruits and vegetables are linked to a reduced risk of chronic disease including mobility disability, and are associated with higher muscle mass, strength and physical performance potentially slowing further disability progression later in life. The investigators will determine if a three-month virtual group nutrition intervention paired with produce delivery and virtual teaching kitchen cooking demonstrations tailored for older Veterans with impaired mobility will improve diet, health-related quality of life and muscle strength.
Description
There are \>8 million older Veterans (\>65 years) in the United States, and nearly half of them self-report having a disability such as impaired mobility that impacts their ability to perform self-care. Among older Veterans with mobility disability, common self-care tasks like food shopping, meal preparation, and cooking are barriers to consuming a healthy diet, resulting in poor dietary intake. Poor dietary intake contributes to chronic disease risk and loss of muscle mass and strength, consequently limiting function and increasing immobility. Teaching older Veterans with impaired mobility ho…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 65+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Veterans \>65 years with reduced gait speed (gait speed \<1.0 m/s) or elevated four square step test * use of an assistive device who also indicate that they would like to improve their eating habits, defined by response of \<3 on a scale of 1 to 5 to the question, 'Do you consider your eating habits to be healthy' Exclusion Criteria: * Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus (HbA1c \>10) or Current renal replacement therapy (e.g. dialysis) * Other medical condition precluding patient participation in this study as per medical judgment of study team * dementia as self-reported…
Interventions
- BehavioralNutrition Intervention
Weekly virtual live group sessions led by a trained study team member will be held twice weekly for 1 hour/week over 12 weeks using a HIPAA compliant online platform. The first class of each week will include the teaching kitchen cooking demonstration (\~30 min) and the remainder of the class will focus on dietary education. The second class each week will provide an opportunity for group discussion to have Veterans share to their peers about how they used the weekly produce
- BehavioralContact Control
Weekly virtual live group health education sessions led by staff will be held for two hours/week over 12 weeks. We will enroll up to 15 participants into each virtual class cohort and run multiple different group sessions for a total sample size of 90 participants. The content follows the LIFE study structured successful aging health education curriculum80,81 which was designed to increase self-efficacy and empower older Veterans to take control of their own healthcare. Topics focus on a broad range of healthy aging, such as importance of sleep, safe travel, goal setting, self-care, and common comorbidities
Location
- Baltimore VA Medical Center VA Maryland Health Care System, Baltimore, MDBaltimore, Maryland